Concierge staff goes above and beyond in service
By Greg Bulger
In an effort to ensure that every Arrowman has a positive NOAC experience, the Concierge team was developed to support lodges and their leadership as they made their NOAC plans and to troubleshoot issues when plans went awry. For Lo La’Qam Geela Lodge, the Concierge team was a conference lifesaver!
While traveling from Portland, Oregon to Michigan for NOAC, Lo La’Qam Geela Lodge seemedto run into every road block possible. There were the obvious problems, like getting 21 people through airport security, but the biggest problems, unbeknownst to contingent leadership, didn’t arise until after the lodge landed in Chicago.
Upon landing, they got in touch with NOAC concierge Danny Carman to give him an update. They were told, based on their current projected time, that they could all meet at Akers, get checked in, and then get dinner and go to the show. Minor accidents on the highway slowed them down, and so every 1020 minutes, Danny and the lodge discussed the updated ETA and worked out how the check in could be adjusted.
At one point in the trip though, traffic just stopped moving. Due to a major accident on I94, all lanes had suddenly closed down, which quickly caused things to get out of hand. After sitting still and worrying about getting checked in on time, traffic actually began to turn around and drive backwards down the interstate.
Unfortunately, at this point in their travel nightmare, they were too far away to have time to check in, or even eat before the show. When they told this story to Danny, he immediately sprang into action. There wouldn’t be time to get tickets or credentials, so he was able to work out a private security detail that could help them out. The lodge couldn’t have their medical checks done, so he arranged a doctor to meet them at the gate to take care of that. The dining halls were closed and the lodge was on a tight budget, so he was able to secure boxed dinners for them to eat as soon as they arrived. Once they finally got routed around with all of the traffic that had been stopped, they pulled into MSU shortly after 8:00 p.m., with Danny waiting for them in the lot. Finally they had arrived!
Once they rushed through dinner and medical checks, they made it to the show with time to spare. Right afterward, they came out to find that Danny had already gotten keys and housing for everyone. Then, to top it off, he arranged a time to meet up with them in the morning to get them finished with the rest of registration, including sashes, credentials and schedules.
Kevin Padrick, contingent leader for Lo La’Qam Geela Lodge, couldn’t have been happier with how the night turned out.
“What really hit home was how far out of his way Danny was willing to go to help our night work out,” Padrick said. “He could’ve said ‘no’ 100 times: Dining halls are closed, no going to the show without tickets, there’s nothing I can do. But he did everything he could to make up for the lost time and to better the experience. It was really inspiring to see one person take it on himself to completely turn around how the week was starting for 21 people.”
